Would you compete for an entire season — going undefeated for all of it — only to refuse to come out of the locker room for the championship game?

For many of us who are sports fans, we just witnessed a historic event. In Super Bowl LI, we watched as the New England Patriots — who were down by 25 points at halftime — came back to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the 5th time in a stunning overtime defeat of the Atlanta Falcons. Never before had a team overcome more than a 10-point deficit in the Super Bowl. Never before had “The Big Game” gone into overtime. When the New England Patriots came out of the locker room for the 3rd quarter, it looked like it was all but over. I had friends who actually turned off the game because it looked like such a blowout. “On to other things.” So what happened?

Well, one of the things that the commentators kept saying was “how young the Atlanta Falcons were”… How young they were…. How quick they were… How much older the Patriots were. Yet for all of their youth and exuberance, it seems that they lacked the one thing that the Patriots did have: Focus. During the second half, the Patriots stayed focused on winning. They stayed focused on the task at hand. They kept their eyes on the prize. Whether it was blown coverages or senseless penalties, the Atlanta Falcons went from a team hungry to win to a team trying not to lose. Somehow, they lost sight of the hard-fought lessons that got them to Houston. They had the motivation and energy to make it to the championship, but lacked the grit and determination to get them across the finish line.

The entire human race is running full-throttle toward the edge of eternity. So even though prophets, preachers, seers, and scholars have been discussing the Last Days and The Day of the Lord for over 2,000 years, how should we live now.. today? What should our mindset be in 2017? Should we be filled with fear or faith?

Among the customs of some Native American people was a ritual of a young man passing into adulthood. He would be taken out into a place away from the community; he would then be blindfolded and left in that spot all night. He was not to remove the blindfold until the morning came and the sunlight began to shine through the blindfold. So all night, he was in that place, feeling alone and isolated… unsure of his surroundings and what potential threats waited for him, unseen because of the blindfold.

Well, I am sure you can imagine his surprise when, upon removing the blindfold at morning’s light, he found himself surrounded by his kinsmen — his father and uncles. Though he may have struggled with the fear of loneliness and the unknown, there was never a moment when he was not being watched over by his elders, who remained just out of reach and by his side the entire night.

Just like the young brave was never abandoned by those who loved him, so we are never abandoned by a loving Heavenly Father who never lets us out of His sight.

It is that unwavering attention to His children that allows us to run the race, and have Faith for the Finale.

At Abba’s House, I have just begun a series of messages by the same title…

Faith for the Finale.

I want to encourage you to join us, whether in person or online, as I take you through the steps and mindset that it takes to be an overcomer in adversarial times, and what YOU need to do in order to finish well the race set before you.

No team has won a Super Bowl in such dramatic fashion; coming back from such a 25-point-deficit at the half. No quarterback or coach has won as many Super Bowls. No Super Bowl had ever gone into overtime before.

Just like every other year for the past 50, another Super Bowl has passed into the history books. Kudos to both the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots for playing such a great and hard-fought game. Congratulations to Robert Kraft and his Patriots for coming out on top, and being the Super Bowl LI champions. Once again, the Vince Lombardi Trophy will make its way to Foxborough, MA.

All of the excitement of the day reminds me of the words of the man himself — Vince Lombardi…

Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success, it enables you to ignore the minor hurts, the opponent’s pressure, and the temporary failures.

So as Christians, what is the cost of living the Christian life in a world that — in most cases — neither welcomes, appreciates, or respects us? What is the price we are called to pay?

The answer…

We are called to come and die.

The Apostle Paul summed it up when he said…

“I am crucified with Christ…” ~ Galatians 2:20a

We are called to die to our self-interest for the sake of something greater.

We are called to die to our sin.

We are called to die to our worldly desires.

We are called to die to ourselves.

With respect to the world, we are called to be the ultimate underdogs.

However, it is though that death that Jesus can live through us, giving us a life more abundant that we could ever imagine.

So, ask yourself this…

Are you a living sacrifice that is acceptable to God, or are you a living sacrifice that keeps crawling off of the altar?

What price are you willing to pay for the One who paid it all for you?